Food package holder and dispenser



Feb. 17, 1953 G. slMoNlAN ETAL FOOD PACKAGE HOLDER AND DISPENSR I 2 SHEETS-SHEET l Filed Dec. 9, 1949 TIE-n.4'

nIIIHHHH F Gelee/.p Swan/19N Feb. 17, 1953 G. SIMONIAN ET AL 2,628,876

y EooD PACKAGE HOLDER AND DISPENSER Filed Dec. 9, 1949 2 SHEETS- SHEET 2 :invento Ger/abn Smm/umm RICHARD H. L1A/K512i' Gttorneg Patented Feb. 17, 1953 Gerald Simonian and icliard nlufilivllresll'i'f,

Fresno, Calif.

Aftllllttt-ttii-'naemttr 9, @instantie int-,ist 1 claim. (o1. "sz-t-l) lntentlli relates tg means for dispensing packaged `mod and more particularly to a 'patiragedrood eontaineresnecially adapted for use With deep freene food cabinets.

Asistvell knofn to retailers and consullers and vothers having occasion to use the enventional deep freefzefood cabinets, both the placing Within the Aeabinet andthe removaltherefrom of paclrages'of food are attended with certain inconveniences. For exaniple, in the absene'of the provision of -sepa rate l package containers, Which may be' 1aded outside of the cabinet and thenplaced thereinthe package loading or stackinglrlust be carried ont by hand, necessitating repetitions exertions on the pal-t of the loader. Qn the' othe' hand thepurohaser or consumer in obtaining a desired package Vfrom one of the pakagestaolrs must bendl ovr'and reach into the cabinetf, partiularly'if the stack is fairly Well liepleted Other obvious disadvantages will either be known or 4 vs/ ill occur to those having some familiarity, with.fwd.-millieruse@f 1t is the purpose and intendrnent of the present invention to mitigate the problems and inconveniences of the abovementioned type encountered in the use of frozen'food lockers or deep freeze f cabinets by providing` a package container martedi@ held .Steek 0f packet@ 'and embodyingylnean's fornioving thevstack upwardlyv in the oont'ainento niaintain the topmost package of the Vstack at the` top or upper end of the container, at which position it is readily accessible. lIn summary, th package-containing device of the invention oomprises an elongate casing open atits upper end and so dirnensioneolas' to aocpmmodatethereina stack of uniformly sized food packages, a platform mernber within the easing upon Awhifzlflthe paokage'staek supported, a lift member having a handle portion extending sll-lnciently abete tnquppfer end of the casing to befrtelr grasped. and hai/.infeafQOt rttin .ertending beneath thec platform member in lifting ,relation weren, and C@Operativev and, oiile" mentari(y stop 4 ilci'eans embodied( in the i nner Walls of the casing and the vsides or the platiorlrl ernber adapting the latter vupon being raised-to a selective positiorithrough manually caused upward movement of the lift member to be retained in said position against downward movement. The lift member, when not in actlial use to raise the'platf-orm member, rests against the bottom of the casing, thus insuring that the upper en'l of the handle portion thereof Willnot impede the closure of the cabinet door. The casing is preferablr 'three-Si, with package retaining means 'for the fourth sfide eine nl th. shift ,fates met@ ne .the parlofrlefl lriispfliefirlie@ Walls ...es Twill hereinafter appear, the short flanges constituting the fourth side of the casing may be dscontinudeci,l havingan open iront side, l

ons, rfntchd; toerrable the 'removal from the c asiir 'fother 'than'thetop package of the stack, as ivh'ri fa nl iscellaneb'ns group f packages is darned within th basing.

Other objects anda'dvant'ag'es of the invention fi'ill "appear fron th 'following 'description taken irl tonton-etici; with t "drawings forming part or this splliea rrarcriil whlch':

Fgurel is a t'leiv in front elevation of a package harder' device embodying the subject invention, with portion of the 'side W'll being :shown in sections;

Figure 2 ig 'a top 'plan if-lett 'of the device of Figuren Referring t the drawings' qfor more specio details of thenvent'n; the basing or container d'iatdghl'all" at H1; Cm'prSeS real' ttli Q12-, 's'rd trails 4 and le; front nanges it v i wrand 'ambp'ttorn vvall 2 having integral a d t elewith ii'ependiit peripheral Harige 2li sefltl'eql 'te the front and side' V'walls ana to the an'es mand 20, `a`s vby rivets 26'. The walls lz;` la anumrt aitil'elarlge la and 2t are gli y formen out ofV a unltarysheet or metal, such a iinurrn uFor thpurpose or handling icrrymg trie" casing there is provided a bailtyie handlers s ilmtn fas being fpltctally mounten oppbsedaprtrs" 3G 'of the side walls Sland la. Y

vjtifithint container o'r 'easing' it) there is p idd a. platform nenbr or saddle indicate generally at 3ft 'and comprising the t an'svrs or horizontal planar portion t5 havi e integral therewith {palr or opposltely als- ,50 d foot flanges 38 which, when in engageintent with 'th bottoni wallet stimmt the por" tion it in" Spaten relation above sai-tl wall z2.

inth Plinn se f raising tllje platform member *3 ndl the'- ak` s- 32 carried thereby so of the container th topinost 'package ankthere is provided aliit member, g rilyatgo; c mfijrising vertically lspod handit tiii tzfnfvind with tanger orice 44 and a horizontally disposed foot portion 46 extending beneath the platform member 36 and between the foot flanges 38 therefor. As the lift member is manually moved upwardly the platform member and packages carried thereby are correspondingly raised.

Means are provided in the package holder device for retaining the platform member 34 at the level to which it has been raised, i. e. tov

prevent a downward or return movement of said member, and we have shown such means as taking the form of a pair of oppositely disposed metal strips 48, secured, as by rivets15, to the inside surfaces of the side walls I4 and I6, provided with correspondingly spaced apertures 52, and a pair of oppositely disposed latching spindles 54 mounted at the underside of the platform member 34, as within the offset channel portion 55 of bracket 58 secured, by rivets B9, to the platform member, and yieldingly urged outwardly, under the action of compression spring 62, through apertures 64 in foot flanges 33 into engagement with locking apertures 52. The ends of the latching spindles are appropriately bevelled at their upper sides to allow the camming of the same inwardly by the upper edges of a set of apertures 52 against the action of spring 62 when the platform member is raised from one position to another.

The containers I are preferably of slightly less height than the internal height of the compartment of the deep freeze cabinet 65, shown in Figure 6, to allow for the protrusion above the container of the tip of the handle portion of the lifting member and, possibly, for the height of the bail-type handle 28, if the latter is rigidly fixed in a vertical position rather than being vpivotally mounted, as shown. Since the lift member when not in actual use assumes the position shown in Figure 1, it will be seen that regardless of the position of the platform member the lift member will not impede or block the closure of the cabinet door, which, conventionally, is located in the top of the cabinet and is pivotable about a horizontal axis.

It will be noted that Figure 1 shows the handle portion of the lift member as being provided with numbers 1-12, corresponding in number and spacing to the number and spacing of food packages occupying the casing of Figure l. These numbers are a definite aid to the person, such r as a driver-salesman, whose job it is to service the package holders within the frozen food cabinet. He may use the numbered lift member as a package level gauge, and, by lifting said member until it engages the platform member, may read the lowermost number disclosed as a true indication of the number of packages which must be placed within the holder to rell it.

When the stack of packages within a container has been exhausted, the container may be manually lifted out of the cabinet-by means of the handle 28 preparatory to reloading. The platform member 34 may then be lowered to the bottom of the container by lifting and tilting it to free the latching spindles 54 from engagement with the apertures 52 followed by a manual lowering of the platform member while in its tilted position to the bottomof the container. Figure 7 illustrates the platform member in tilted position ready for lowering to the bottom of the container.

The modification of the device of Figure 4 differs from that of Figures 1-3 only in the form of the package retaining flanges corresponding to flanges i8 and 20 of Ithe above-described embodiment of the invention. The flanges of the container of Figure 4 are comprised, respectively, of a plurality of spaced apart ears H8 and |20. with the spacing therebetween being slightly in excess of the thickness or depth of a food package 32. The flange ears IIB and |20 are so disposed that each pair of opposed ears is in overlying relation to a pair of adjacent packages, thus preventing accidental removal of the packages, or protrusion of the same, through the open iront of the container. The flange arrangement of Figure 4 is particularly adapted for use with a miscellaneous stack of packages, i. e., one in which the packages, while identical as to size, contain different food contents. In such event the purchaser who desires a particular package within the stack may obtain the same without the necessity of removing from the container the packages above the desired one. By simply raising the stack, by means of the handle portion 42 of the lift member, the relatively slight distance necessary to align the desired package with the space between adjacent pairs of flange ears, the package may then be removed through said space.

While an embodiment of the invention, as well as a modified form of said embodiment have been shown and described, it is to be understood that the scope of the invention is to be limited only by the scope of the appended claim.

What we claim as new and desire to obtain by Letters Patent is:

Food package holding and dispensing apparatus comprising a casing open at the upper end and at the front side thereof and adapted to accommodate therein a stack of packages, a member normally supported by the bottom of said casing and having a platform surface in spaced relation to said casing bottom adapted to support said package stack, a lifting member for said package supporting member comprising a handle portion extending above the upper end of said casing, one way stop means comprising complementary means carried by said casing and said package supporting member adapted upon the raising of said member a predetermined distance by said lifting member to retain said member against downward movement from the position to which it is raised, and a plurality of spaced pairs of package retaining flange members at the front side of said casing adapted when said package supporting member is in a position of engagement with said casing to prevent the removal cf packages through the front side of said casing, with adjacent flange pairs being spaced apart a sufficient distance to enable the removal therebetween of a package when said package supporting member has been raised a predetermined portion of the distance to its next position of engagement with the casing.

GERALD SIMONIAN. RICHARD H. LINKERT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name v Date 1,171,478 Tintera Feb. 15, 1916 1,707,832 Wessman Apr. 2, 1929 1,985,516 Parr et al Dec. 15, 1934 2,069,179 Dunaway Jan. 26, 1937 

